304 TREES IN- WINTER 



SWAMP WHITE OAK 



Quercus bicolor Willd. 

 Q. platanoides Sudw. 



HABIT — A medium sized tree, 40-60 ft. high, with trunk diameter 

 of 2-3 ft.; in the open with round-topped open head, sometimes broader 

 than hig-h; upper limbs ascending, lower limbs rather small, horizon- 

 tal or declined even to the ground, with numerous tufted, small, 

 scraggly, lateral, pendant branchlets. The scraggly branchlets in 

 connection with the peeling of the bark give a very rough unkempt 

 appearance to the tree. Trunk erect, generally continuous,; sometimes 

 forking above to give somewhat the aspect of an Elm in respect to 

 main limbs. In the open this tree may generally be recognized at a dis- 

 tance by the lower branches which spread out below to form a fringe 

 reminding one of an old-fashioned hoop-skirt. 



BARK — Flaky, grayish-brown, divided by deep longitudinal fissures 

 into rather long, fiat ridges. Bark on small branchlets, dark reddish- 

 brown to black, peeling into long, persistent stiff-papery layers, 

 which curl back and expose the lighter bark beneath. 



TWIGS — Mediumly stout to slender, yellowish-green to reddish- 

 brown, smooth (seldom slightly downy). Medullary rays generally absent 

 in branchlets even of 6 to 8 years growth. LENTICELS — pale, raised. 

 LEAVES — which may persist obovate-oblong, . wedge-shaped at base, 

 wavy-margined to blunt-lobed, with 6-8 pairs of primary veins. PITH — 

 5-pointed, star-shaped. 



BUDS — Broadly ovate to oval to spherical; blunt-pointed; small, 2-4 

 mm. long. BUD-SCALES — brown, at times slightly hairy above middle. 



FRUIT — Maturing in one year, single or in pairs or groups of 3, 

 generally with long stalks, 2.5 to 10 cm. long. NUT — light chestnut 

 ovate to oblong, 2-3 cm. long, apex covered with pale down, rounded 

 or pointed. CUP — thick, cup-shaped, about l^ enclosing nut; scales 

 pale woolly, those at base more or less thickened, at rim of cup tips 

 of scales elongated, narrow, awn-pointed, often forming short fringe. 

 Meat sweet, edible. 



COMPARISONS — The sycamore-like peeling of the bark from the 

 young branchlets easily distinguishes this species from all other Oaks. 

 The bark somewhat resembles that of White Oak but is somewhat 

 darker and the ridges are longer. 



DISTRIBUTION — Borders of swamps and streams. Quebec to Ontario, 

 where it is known as the Blue Oak; south to Delaware along the 

 mountains to northern Georgia; west to Minnesota, Iowa, East Kansas 

 and Arkansas. 



IN NEW ENGLAND — Maine^York county; New Hampshire — Merrimac 

 valley as far as the mouth of the Souhegan, and probably throughout 

 Rockingham county; Vermont — low grounds about Lake Champlain; 

 Massachusetts — frequent in the western and central sections, comiTicn 

 eastward; Connecticut — frequent; Rhode Island — common. 



WOOD — Similar to that of White Oak, and used for same general 

 purposes; sapwood. thin, hardly distinguishable from heartwood. 



